Wednesday, 30 November 2011

I have gained a reputation for being extremely picky and obsessive when it comes to wrapping presents. There is something about it that I just love! I can't pinpoint it. I just love creating beautiful gifts for my loved ones and always put in bundles of effort. I've been creating this year's look for a couple of months now; hours of my time, gone into searching for the perfect embellishments, and finishing touches to my presents.

My Dad's Christmas presents

Each present is wrapping in matte and foil Christmas tree paper, bought from Paperchase (I love this store!!). I sourced the "Merry Christmas" ribbon, wooden heart gift tags, and red jingle bells myself, all via eBay. It's taken a lot of work to piece this look together but I'm really pleased with it!

*jingle jingle*

Overall, I think my presents have a really traditional look to them, this year! I really like it though. Last year my paper was black and had lots of colours on it, but this time I've tried to keep it really simple, and I think I've managed to pull it off! Each gift takes about half an hour to wrap (I'm so meticulous!!).

I'm hoping that people will want to keep their little tags and jingle bells ^^ I am, however, waiting for the age old "they're so pretty, we don't want to unwrap them!" line that gets thrown up every single year. That makes me happy though and shows that people really do appreciate the hard work I put into my gifts!

Thursday, 24 November 2011

I'm back in business. My finger is all healed now...well, pretty much. Tell me this; why is it that when something bleeds a lot, the cut itself always looks measly, and everyone tells you you've made a massive fuss? But yeah, I'm all good again =)

Two woolly puddings!

As you can see; I've only mustered the will to crochet one more pudding since my last post. I don't know why I struggle. The pattern itself is lovely...I think I just get bored easily. With amigurumi animals, you can see it taking shape...it has a personality once you add eyes and embellishments etc. With inanimate objects, like food, I get all "meh" about everything and can't be bothered haha! Regardless, they still look pretty cute, right?

Friday, 18 November 2011

I am going to have to excuse myself from my crochet for the next week or so, due to an unforeseen accident at work.

Tampon finger!

I was cutting medical tape for a probe at work, and slipped with the scissors. Oopsie (I'll admit, I said something slightly more hardcore than "oopsie" at the time, but this is a family friendly blog!). Anyway after 40mins of bleeding, and frantic texts to my fantastic colleague Jo, who very kindly did some long distance first aiding for me and prevented me from bleeding to death, I finally managed to get a makeshift dressing on it, and continue my shift. The above, is dressing #3. I must admit, I am not enjoying walking around with what looks like a giant tampon on my finger, but hey!

So unfortunately, I am out of action for a little while, until my finger decides it wants to play along!

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

I finally found the time to sit down and finish off my mane and tail for the unicorn I've made my friend, Kirsty! So unbelievably pleased with how she's turned out! The mane is super wacky and took me about 4hrs in total (two films; Human Centipede 2, and Paranormal Activity 3 haha).

Funky blue streaks!

I'm really pleased with how the colours have all blended together, so nicely! Even the electric blue, which is part of a gradient yarn I found in my stash, works really well and brings out the other colours. Definitely complimentary!

Front view

I, personally, think this project looks much nicer from a side angle. The full frontal shot is not particularly flattering to how cute she is, but I wanted to include one so you could see the shell stitches on her hooves, and also how her mane frames her face (which I'm really pleased with).

More pink, this side!

I added a little bow to her head, as an extra embellishment. The pattern itself gave the option of surface stitching around the horn and neck, but I thought my piece would look too busy with that as well, so kept her a little more simple with just the bow. It also worked well to hide the place I'd stitched the nostrils from!

Close-up, to show the bead detail on her eyes

Some of the wacky yarns in her mane!

Other side

Hoof close-up; I've always loved the shell stitch detailing here!

As you can tell by the abundance of photographs, I am really happy with the outcome!! I am yet to come up with a name, so if anyone would like to help out, all suggestions will be very welcome!

Thought I'd show my face, for scale purposes xD

If anyone would like to make this specific pattern, it is by the very talented Dawn Toussaint, and can be found here on Ravelry. As always, her designs are an absolute joy to make and always have such fantastic outcomes!

If you'd like any additional photographs or have any questions, please feel free to ask! I'm now going to go back to Christmas puddings *yawn*

Thursday, 10 November 2011

For those still relatively new to the world of me, you may be unaware that I am also a part time photographer. Yes, aside from working 40+ hours a week (nights) and socialising when I get the chance, I also find time to indulge in my true passion of photography.

I have just relaunched my eBay shop; selling my current selection of greetings cards. I would really appreciate it if you guys could take a look, and maybe pass on the link to people, where possible. Am still adding designs to it, but at the moment there is a nice selection. For very good prices too! And I will happily post internationally. Tempted?Please follow this link, and have a look!

I am a proper Christmas junkie; I love everything about it, and making gifts for others is one of my favourite aspects. Ever since I've been able to crochet, I've liked to try and make little crochet gifts for my friends, for Christmas and birthdays, and they always really appreciate them. It's the handmade thing; people enjoy being given presents that people have made the effort to put together themselves. I certainly do anyway!

This year, aside from the unicorn I've been making, I have been asked to crochet some little Christmas puddings, for my best friend's Mum to put in hampers she's making.

Good enough to eat!

The pattern I'm using was written by June Gilbank, and can be found here on Ravelry. It's really easy to work, and turns out really nicely! I'm still going to add some beading to the icing, but overall this is how it will look. Got two more to make, and then I can get back to adding the mane to my unicorn...

Monday, 7 November 2011

I've spent the weekend with one of my best friends, Kirsty, (the one I'm making the unicorn for) in rural Wales, and have some pictures to share!

It's been completely spur of the moment. A few weeks ago, I was feeling a bit low and needed to get away, so my friend chose the cottage and location, and we decided to head off for the weekend and escape from the world! And we definitely did that!!

Driving above the clouds, in the Brecon Beacons

We were staying in a house, just outside a TINY village called Crugybar, which is in Carmarthenshire. Decided to drive through the Brecon Beacons on our way through, just so that Kirsty could see some mountains. The weather wasn't great, and it rained heavily on and off, but hey...it is Wales!

Rhos Barn, and Rosie the Micra

We were staying in a beautiful barn conversion, called Rhos Barn, on a farm previously owned by musician Billy Fury. It was absolutely stunning and we were cut off from everything! About 11 miles from any form of proper civilisation, unless you count sheep and farms, with absolutely no internet connection and very minimal phone signal (you could only pick up signal on my bedside cabinet).

After the journey, all we really wanted to do was veg out and watch films, so we had a pretty quiet evening. Getting into bed that night, was absolute bliss!

I loved waking up to this in the morning! Best view ever!

On Saturday, our only full day in Wales, we decided to drive out to Carmarthen, to visit the market and also just to see the area a bit. We spent two hours in the town, grabbed some lunch, and then set out to try and find Cardigan Bay. However, my satnav decided that she was going to send us in multiple directions and we got very lost. Gave up after a few hours and went back to the cottage to chill out haha!

Kirsty working on her cross stitch

After another night in my amazing, comfy bed, it was time to leave and start heading home. Had a leisurely morning, packing our things away and making sure the house looked ok and the owners wouldn't have to clean much. I went out in the frost with my professional camera and took some photos, to pass some time while Kirsty got her things together...

"You came all the way to Wales, to take pictures of moss?!"

We decided from the very beginning, that we wanted to make a whole day of the journey home. So we set off late and drove back via the Brecon Beacons again, although on a different road this time.

The travellers finally show their faces; Kirsty and I just prior to driving home

After getting lost, yet again (who gets lost with a satnav???) we finally managed to find our way to see Pen Y Fan, which is the highest point in South Wales, and is absolutely stunning. We spent a little while at the information centre, admiring the view, before setting off through the mountains again.

Pen Y Fan

Our journey eventually ended after about 6hrs, because we got diverted through Bristol and then villages, due to a massive accident on the M5 on Friday evening. Dropped Kirsty home, and then came home to collapse myself!

And here I am, now reminiscing on a fantastic weekend away with one of my top ladies, waiting for 21:00, when I start work. Oh I am so tired, but so happy haha!

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Last night at work, I managed to finish piecing together the unicorn I've been making! Am really pleased with how she's turned out!!

Crumby phone pic, sorry

I still have to add the mane and tail, and some little embellishments but that's the overall lump finished!

I intend to give her a purple/pink mane and tail. She's also going to have pink "freckles" on her face, and also (hopefully) tiny pearl beads around her feet on the shell stitches. I need to check and see how many beads I have before I do that though.

Will take a decent picture when she's all finished and looking fabulous with her new hair do!